Abstract:

Saint Louis University School of Public Health responded to a request from the Catholic Medical Association to assess water quality for microbial contamination in Olancho, Honduras after Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Two teams visited Honduras in late 1998 and early 1999 to assess the safety of the public water supply and to help the local government determine ways in which the School of Public Health could provide training and other assistance in environmental health. Other teams from the School of Public Health followed up on these preliminary assessments by providing in-depth training on communicable disease, treatment of water, and financing of water treatment systems to Honduran government and Catholic Church workers.

As an interim measure to provide potable water to the local population, the Catholic Diocese of Olancho requested that the School design and deliver a portable water filtration device to the local population. After testing of several prototypes, two types of portable devices were then placed in two rural communities to evaluate reduction of coliform bacteria.